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Race How-To Guide
Preface Sometimes, you just wanna make your own alien. So, this guide should help with that. I’m going to break down the sections of the template, as well as clarify certain things. The idea is to reduce the amount of help an admin has to give, as well as reduce the amount of rewrites needed. So… Requirements Tech level All aliens are either a Type I or Type 0 on the Kardashev scale. However, all alien races must be FTL Capable. It prevents steamrolling by more powerful nations, as well as prevents an issue with the lore regarding the Dom’Kavosh or the Oro Convent. Speaking of which… Aggressors Every race, even humans, had to deal with some form of aggressor alien race at some point. This is a requirement for all aliens, no matter how badass you want them to be. Exceptions: If the race was part of a nation with other races, you can avoid this, but it will be required in the Nation Sheet. Dom’Kavosh attacks The Dom’Kavosh essentially terrorized over half the galaxy, raiding other races. If you go this route, the Dom’Kavosh attacked at least once. If you’re psychic, or you kept expanding, they would attack again. All Dom’Kavosh attacks are done in space, as the Dom’Kavosh rarely land on a planet. When they do, it becomes incredibly violent. They do not destroy planets. If they do, they destroy every sign that race existed, meaning no survivors to tell the tale. No one has ever even dealt the Dom’Kavosh a bloody nose, aside from the Convent and humanity. But, while these attacks were merciless and basically overpowering...they didn’t happen all the time. This means that, though the race couldn’t expand incredibly far, they had time to develop their nation and culture. The biggest downside to this route, is the lack of a common language. Unless you have telepathy, you aren’t going to be able to communicate with anyone outside your species. The Dom’Kavosh vanished immediately after their fight with humanity at the Battle of Betelgeuse. Oro Convent Referred to normally as just the Convent, this massive, ancient civilization, is comprised of over a thousand different races, held together by their religion. The Convent is the oldest surviving nation and is a Type II on the Kardashev scale. They fought a war against the Dom'Kavosh that lasted millions of years and ended in a stalemate. The Convent ended up controlling the other portion of the galaxy, as well as the satellite galaxies. History with the Convent means your race did not get attacked by the Dom’Kavosh. Ever. Orot is the language of the Convent and is the most common language in the galaxy. NO ONE EVER SUCCESSFULLY REBELLED AGAINST THE CONVENT. During the Convent Civil War, all members that stayed, or left soon after, would’ve had to side with the Grand Cleric, who wanted to maintain the status quo; and the Herald, who wanted to go back to the ancient ways, that were more peaceful. There are four kinds of interactions with the Convent a race might’ve had. Member A full member of the Convent. Every resource that race had would be used by the Convent, meaning that race had no real autonomy, military, or trade, as the Convent is essentially Space Communism. During the Convent Civil War, a few races left peacefully. If you go this route, your people generally had no hardships, have a rather large population, as well as a well-developed homeworld...but the military and diplomatic relations are starting from scratch. A race that was a member race tends to be more religious and has knowledge of humanity, as humanity was involved in the Civil War. However, almost all former Cattle Races will hate you, so you start off with some enemies. Cattle race Cattle races were essentially slaves, treated as cattle to be eaten, as the name suggests. Convent subjugation happened quickly, as Convent forces hit hard than even the Dom’Kavosh, though with the purpose of making someone surrender. Cattle races had their entire culture, history, and civilization destroyed, being forced to learn only Orot, and every 20 or so years, a chunk of the population was culled. Outside of cullings, life was generally relaxed, as the Convent merely observed and didn’t rule, but they kept the race in check, preventing them from controlling anything more than the system they had. During the Civil War, some cattle races were offered freedom and aid rebuilding their civilization, if they fought for the Herald. The ones that fought for the Grand Cleric were offered tech and membership to the Convent, as well as a place of honor, elevated above some of the other Convent races. Those that sided with the Cleric were cast out and are enemies of the races that sided with the Herald that took their freedom. They start out with nothing if they want it. Or, the Herald gifts them some hyperdrives and a few less advanced ships, enough to do their own thing, as well as supplies. Cattle races tend to be fiercely proud and tend to hate to the Convent, and either hate or like humanity, for their role in freeing them. Not all cattle races fought, some just found themselves freed afterward and had to start EVERYTHING from scratch. Vassal Vassal Races are essentially the most desired of all four types of interactions. Vassals are races that had something the Convent found useful. So, they traded protection against the Dom’Kavosh, as well as humanitarian aid, in exchange for that tech or service. Vassals did their own thing and start off essentially untouched. Their civilization, economy, and military are all theirs. They speak Orot, as well as their own language. Essentially, Vassal races start off as the most well off, potentially most powerful of all player alien races. HOWEVER! The Convent doesn’t find much useful that they couldn’t do themselves, so you MUST discuss with an admin what made them a vassal. To save you time: Labor and anything military are a no go, as they have cheap, expendable labor and cheap, expendable troops. An example of a vassal race made by a player: The Ossion had the tech to genetically alter someone after birth, and had the patience to watch their experiments over eons. As such, the Convent used them to seed cattle races. Protectorate A Protectorate is a race that approached the Convent to surrender to them for protection from the Dom’Kavosh. When declared a Protectorate, that race is given a quota to fill. They are to give the Convent a certain number of their race for sacrifice, that meet certain requirements. The Protectorate reduces their military force to a basic defense force and to a limited territorial holding. They are allowed to keep their culture, the language, and even their military training. Everything else is provided by the Convent. Protectorates were released after the Civil War, to become independent or join the Convent as members. Former Protectorates start out with a handful of systems, a defense force, their own culture, and a knowledge of Orot, though how widespread the language is aside from the leadership is up to you. Psychics If a race is psychic, ALL MEMBERS must be psychic. If you go with a psychic race, the bodies MUST be more frail than normal, a balance to the advantage of psychic power. If a race has only telepathy or only telekinesis, then the frailty isn’t as bad. You MUST list the abilities. If the ability is found on another race sheet, then it’s automatically approved, unless there a * next to it, meaning it’s unique to that race. For lore reasons, the Eosapians are the most powerful psychic race. Psychic abilities that affect the mind can only be used on members of that race, or a race that’s incredibly similar. OR...you require consent. The Guide The race sheet, like the nation sheet, is OOC. As such, anything you wish to keep hidden must be run by an admin. Everything must be filled out, unless an admin allows you to skip something. Race Name: Self explanatory. Anatomy/Biology (Do not fill this line in, this is a header) Types: Subspecies go here. Subspecies are members of the same race that are rather different physically and genetically, but are still the same race. Cultural differences or ethnicities are NOT subspecies. An example would be the types of cat: tigers, pumas, and domestic housecats. Description: Aliens CANNOT look like humans or any other existing playable race. There MUST be a physical trait that distinguishes them from humans at a glance. Eye color, skin color, or and a tail/extra limbs don’t cut it (All of the above will work, though). This isn’t Star Trek. Diet: (optional) Male Average height: Imperial, Metric, or both Average weight: Imperial, Metric, or both Average build: average body type Coloration: Fur colors, skin colors, scale colors, patterns etc Average lifespan: how long do they live? (Earth years) Female Average height: Imperial, Metric, or both Average weight: Imperial, Metric, or both Average build: average body type Coloration: Fur colors, skin colors, scale colors, patterns etc Average lifespan: how long do they live? (Earth years) Extra: you can add a variety of optional statistics to help build your race to make them more unique. How many hearts do they have? Do they have acid blood? Whatever anatomical data you can think of can be listed here. Racial abilities go here as well. Politics (Do not fill this line in, this is a header) System: what kind of political system do they have? Don’t be afraid to go into depth. If they have their own nation, then skip this part. Values: What does their society value? Family, money, religion, science, progress, etc. Religion(s): Self-explanatory. Settlements/colonies: If they control a large enough space, and they have their own nation, then skip this. Diplomacy: If they had contact with the Convent, how do they feel about it? Otherwise, what would make someone a good ally for this race? Who would they consider an enemy? Age of spacefaring civilization: How long ago did the race first gain FTL space travel? As a heads up, for lore reasons, no alien race evolved sapience before the Eosapians and no race had a civilization before the Convent. Technology (Do not fill this line in, this is a header) Military: What kind of technology is available to the military? Civilian/Public: What kind of technology can civilians use? Overview: an overview or brief history of their technology and availability Traditions: Even advanced societies have traditions of sorts. If you were involved with the Convent as a Cattle Race, the longer the subjugation, the less traditions they’d have. But you still have SOME Traditions Conflicts/Issues: In order to make your race/society seem realistic you must give them/it some issues. It’s preferable they have internal conflicts, as well as anything they have with other races. Relevant history: DO NOT just put a timeline. Give the race some meat to it. We want to know how they got to where they were. Remember that the sheet is OOC, so even Convent subjugation isn’t enough to let you skip this, UNLESS you're a Cattle race. Then it's merely events since the Convent civil war.. This should differ slightly from a Nation sheet, if they have their own nation. Category:How-To Guides